Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 Review of National Geographic Atlas of the World May 12, 2006
20 out of 20 found this review helpful
At the full price of over 100, this atlas was rather more than I wanted to pay, but once it was discounted, I purchased a copy and was very pleasantly suprised. It is a large format political atlas published in America by National Geographic. Although it has only 190 map pages compared with 247 for the Times Atlas Comprehensive Edition, the page size and total map area is the largest of any World Atlas. The index of almost 150,000 place names is third only to the Times and the Rand McNally World Atlases. In fact the plates are so large that many of them are available to buy as seperate rolled flat maps.
As expected, the Atlas is best for North and Central America. My favourite plates are those of New England, Alaska, Central America and the Carribean Islands. Europe is not as well mapped as in the large British based atlases, But the large page size means that the European maps are extreamely attractive and informative. There are also unique maps of the smallest countries in Europe including Andorra, Monaco, Lichenstein and The Vatican. Russia is not well mapped, but there are good maps of the polar regions.
For the latest Edition, National Geographic has replaced a very large number of small town plans with a small number of large town plans.
National Geographic has managed to include a very large number of place names in the maps whilst retaining great legibility and clarity, so this is an atlas I can thoroughly reccommend, and at discount price, I would give it five stars rather than four.
Andrew Taylor
Worsley, Manchester
 Highly reccomended to anyone fascinated with our planet January 19, 2005
52 out of 55 found this review helpful
What a great book. A beautiful source of endless information.
I bought this book despite having read the poor reveiws regarding what seems to be ONE mistake. Understandably this would cause upset to those connected with the place and anyone padantic enough to degrade an atlas on one "error". You cannot give a whole book a poor reveiw due to this and therefore if you are looking for a 99.999999999999999999999% reliable atlas then i garantee you will not be dissapointed!!!
Friends thought me a bit crazy on buying such an expensive book since it is for reference and not something i needed specifically, especially as i am a tax doging, penniless student! But this is an investment of a life time and i can see myself refering to it again and again for the rest of my life. Not only does it contain excellent maps but also lots of stunning pictures and information on space and planets, and also any political or geographical changes are available on the Nat Geo website so it really will last a lifetime even if the world as we know it changes.
I would not have expected anything less from National Geographic.
 Persian gulf always belong to iran December 15, 2004
7 out of 80 found this review helpful
This Atlas is inaccurate and changed many of the historical (genuine) geographic names of the places and waterways based on the political believes of the National Geographic Society staff. Purchase another Atlas which it would become reliable resource of truthful information for you.
Excellent Atlas - Bang Up to Date December 7, 2004
27 out of 36 found this review helpful
I think it is disgraceful and disgusting that reviewers decide to use Amazon as a forum for pushing political debates with regard to naming of territories. Maybe I should complain too that my tiny home village is not listed in the atlas. But that is being silly, and immature. I think the said reviewers should first learn to write English properly before denouncing someone else's work. These comments detract from what is an exceptional Atlas. The edition has a superb introduction into the formation of the earth, languages, cultures, astrology etc. The layout is clear and informative, and makes a fantastic coffee table book. I've had many people comment on it and open it up. It weighs a tonne - no joke - not something you'll tuck under your arm or nip on to the plane with. But it is essential in any good personal library. And as for those silly reviewers - why don't you best start with the children's section of Amazon?
Quality you would expect the National Geographic December 6, 2004
17 out of 21 found this review helpful
Clearly this reveiw section is being used to make a political message, what fun!!Having actually owned and used this atlas I can say that it is everything you would expect from National Geographic, high quality, stuffed full of facts and from what I understand of the world as accurate as anyone could hope for, for a document that is frozen at a particular point in time. I would highly recommend this to anyone.
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